System for Message Acknowledgement and Data Collection in Wireless Mesh Networks

ABSTRACT

A slave communication device includes a memory and a processor for operation within a wireless mesh network of communication devices including a control communication device. The memory stores a virtual routing identifier assigned to the slave communication device in response to increasing range from the control communication device. The processor, in response to receiving an initiation message from a control communication device, initiates data collection from said slave communication device synchronised relative to the start of the initiation message frame by, cumulatively setting bits in a first acknowledgement message in response to content of a second acknowledgement message received from another slave communication device. The first acknowledgement message being synchronized with start of the initiation message frame and the processor initiates communication of the first acknowledgement message to a destination in a time slot selected in response to the assigned virtual routing identifier.

FIELD

A system concerns message acknowledgement and/or data collection fromcommunication devices with packet message transmission in arrangedwireless mesh networks and supporting creation of a generic platform.

BACKGROUND

In mesh networks with packet transmission and created routing structureutilising directional flooding, messages are sent in smaller partscalled packets. Packets contain information about their recipient andare transmitted in general mesh networks from the sender to a sequenceof devices until they reach the recipient. Defining the path, i.e.deciding which devices the packets will be transmitted through, iscalled routing. The goal of routing is to ensure the most reliable andfastest possible delivery of the packet from the sender to therecipient. Mesh networks represent a general network topology, whereconnections may exist between any two devices in the network, whichmeans that these devices may mutually communicate and transfer messages.A mesh network where a connection can be established between any twodevices in the network is called a fully connected mesh network, howeverin practice the more common case is that some devices may establishmutual connections.

A mesh network and routing may be thought of as a network of citiesinterconnected by a road network, and routing as a journey of a vehiclewith its cargo (a packet) from the city of a sender to a recipient. Thevehicle travels from one city to another utilising the existing roadnetwork. Individual roads connecting cities represent connectionsbetween them. A journey from a starting point to an endpoint is thusdivided into individual roads, which are connections in the context ofgeneral networks. There exist many different routes which the vehiclecan use to transport the cargo from the city of the sender to the cityof the recipient, and similarly in wireless real-world mesh networksthere can exist many different routes for routing a packet from a senderto a recipient. Since general mesh networks may or may not contain aconnection between any pair of devices, the number of total possibleconnections in a network with n devices is lower or equal to N_(max)where N_(max)=n*(n−1)/2. In the specific example with cities, this isthe maximum number of roads in the road network between n cities.

In wireless mesh networks, devices communicate wirelessly, via radiowaves. Connections between two communicating devices are thus usuallylimited by the range of these devices. Devices which are too far fromeach other cannot establish a mutual connection. Since the distancesbetween individual devices are not usually known in advance in generalwireless mesh networks, it is not clear in advance which devices mayestablish mutual connections, and thus routing, i.e. finding the routebetween the sender device to the recipient device of the packet, is arelatively difficult algorithmic problem, especially due to the numberof possible routes and combinations of various connections. Variousrouting methods for communication in mesh networks are used in practice.These include, for instance, routing based on routing tables, often usedin computer technology, flooding or random routing. Routing based onsharing and distribution of routing tables or vectors is one of the mostoptimal methods with respect to the efficiency of packet delivery,however this comes at the cost of substantial memory requirement of acontrol processor or microcontroller of communication devices,especially in large networks with many devices. Flooding an unorderednetwork, based on distributing a packet gradually into the whole networkis a solution suitable for the reliable delivery of the packet, howeverthis is far from optimal due to the specific properties of wirelessnetworks, which generally have low data transfer speeds and problemswith media sharing (conflicts in media access and their resolution). Inthe example above, this approach involves traversing the whole roadnetwork in a vehicle. Random routing is used in computer technology,e.g. when the router is overloaded and may reduce packet loss, but isnot suitable for wireless mesh networks for telemetry due to its lowreliability.

In connected systems individual devices may have dedicated connectionsbetween them, however, wireless mesh networks share a communicationspectrum. Inappropriate use of the communication spectrum andnon-adherence to communication rules leads to collisions on individualcommunication connections, preventing efficient communication. In theroad work example, this would be analogous to chaos and collisionsleading to closure of many roads resulting from vehicles failing tofollow rules such as which side of the road to use and which vehicletakes precedence. Various methods to prevent collision states are thusused for communication in wireless networks. The most frequently usedmethods involve defining rules on WHEN each device may transmit(so-called Time Division Multiplexing or Time Division MultipleAccess—TDMA) and also WHERE each device may transmit, i.e. whichfrequencies (usually specified by a channel) may be used by eachcommunication device. Other techniques for media/spectrum access arealso used in practice. CSMA, CDMA, TDMA and TMPS are only a fewexamples.

TDMA is often used in practice to prevent transmission collisions due toits easy implementation and reliability. TDMA is based on the fact thatin a given time interval, called a time slot, only a single specifieddevice may transmit. A group of time slots belonging to differentparticipants is called a frame. On our road network example, the easiestway of illustrating this approach is using traffic lights, which limittraffic on shared crossroads in time-defined intervals. Since most RFcircuits today allow receiving and sending on several frequencies, manysystems also utilise frequency hopping (FHSS—Frequency Hopping SpreadSpectrum), where either individual bits or, more commonly, groups ofbits are transmitted on different frequencies. In practice this meansthat they may be transmitted simultaneously, since they do not interferewith each other. This manner of communication may be illustrated in ourexample as having multi-lane roads between cities, where severalvehicles may drive on a single road simultaneously.

As previously mentioned, a general mesh network with n communicationdevices allows_at most N_(max) connections between communicationdevices, where N_(max)=n*(n−1)/2, with n being the number ofcommunication devices in the network. Since the topology of a generalwireless mesh network is not known in advance, the limit case ofapplying collision-free flooding via TDMA would require dedicating up toN_(max) time slots for individual routings to ensure reliable deliveryof the packet. However, this is time-inefficient. For instance, for acommonly used speed of 19.2 kbps, the transmission of a single shortpacket with 24 B of data in a network with 100 communication deviceswould result in a frame of up to 50 seconds.

Creation of a functional layout of the wireless network using packettransmission and comprising tens, hundreds or thousands of devices is adifficult algorithmic process due to the gigantic amount of variouslayouts of such a network. This is further complicated for networkscomprising communication devices with limited hardware resources(program and data memory) and communicating at low speeds, especially inthe case of multiple-routing, i.e. the transfer of messages from onedevice to another. One system addresses the problem by creation of afunctional arrangement of a generic wireless mesh network and routing inthe network as described in US Patent Application 2012/0163234 filedJun. 28, 2012, and ensures reliable and efficient delivery of messages.However, as the number of devices connected to the network grows, sogrows the response time when communication with several devices isrequired, e.g. in case of request for acknowledgement of messagesintended for a group of devices or all devices.

Wireless mesh networks are becoming increasingly popular for telemetryand automation as well as for many other applications. The areas oftelemetric Automated Meter Reading (AMR), control of public lighting(Street Lighting) or distribution monitoring are good examples. Thesecases deploy networks with hundreds or thousands of devices and speed ofdata collection from the individual devices or acknowledgement of theindividual devices to a superior system are therefore an importanttechnical parameter in networks with slow transfer speeds.

SUMMARY

A system communicates in mesh networks using packet transmission andwith a created routing structure utilising directional flooding andmessage acknowledgement and data collection in arranged wireless meshnetworks. In an embodiment, a service is incorporated in devicesproviding direct addressing in wireless networks supporting a genericplatform. Further, in an embodiment, routing is based on using a timemultiplex. The system quickly and effectively performs bulk collectionof data from communication devices in wireless mesh networks andaccelerates acknowledgement of group or bulk messages in these networks.The system collects and acknowledges data from communication devices inwireless mesh networks with packet message transmission for telemetry,automation and other applications, where a mesh network includes atleast one control communication device and a set of slave communicationdevices.

A control communication device is used for searching through the meshnetwork so that individual slave communication devices that arediscovered are assigned a unique virtual routing number in the networkwith the number being stored into memory in the device. The numberrepresents the distance of the slave communication device from thecontrol communication device determined by the number of routings. In anetwork arranged in such a way, message control packets are transferredfrom the network control communication device to addressed slavecommunication devices and back using directional flooding.

Individual addressed slave communication devices, after reception of aninitiation message frame from a control communication device, throughwhich the control communication device initiates data collection fromthe slave communication devices that are time-synchronised relative tothe beginning of the initiation frame, a bit or a number of bits areset, which gradually merge with acknowledgement collective messagesreceived from other addressed slave communication devices during anacknowledgement frame that is time-synchronised to the initiation frame.The merged acknowledgement collective messages are gradually sent by theslave communication devices in the corresponding time slot of theacknowledgement frame from the highest virtual routing number towardsthe control communication device.

In individual addressed slave communication devices, which aretime-synchronised relative to the beginning of the initiation frame, dueto reception of the initiation message from the control communicationdevice, and after processing of routing of the initiation frame, if adevice is intended for routing, a bit or a number of bits are set, andgradually are merged with acknowledgement collective messages receivedfrom other slave communication devices during the acknowledgement framethat is time-synchronised to the initiation frame, and they aresubsequently sent in this merged form by these slave communicationdevices in the corresponding time slot of this acknowledgement frame,from the slave communication devices with the highest virtual routingnumber towards the control communication device. The gradual merging ofreceived collective messages described above and sending of aggregateddata advantageously ensures that after reception and merging of messagesdelivered within the acknowledgement frame, the control device obtainsinserted data from the slave communication devices.

In the initiation message frame from the control communication device,routed to slave communication devices, may be included additionalinformation and in individual addressed slave communication devices thisinformation is interpreted and a required sequence of instructions isperformed in response to this interpretation and independently from itor based on its result, one or several bits are set, which are insertedinto the collective acknowledgement message addressed to the controlcommunication device. Timing of the acknowledgement frame, i.e. forexample delay of the acknowledgement frame or length of the individualtime slots within it, can be set in a similar way, i.e. based onadditional information inserted into the initiation message from thecontrol communication device.

After reception of the initiation message, time-synchronised relative tothe beginning of the frame, individual addressed slave networkcommunication devices first perform the required sequence ofinstructions in response to interpretation of the additional informationinserted into the initiation message by the control device, andindependently of it, or based on its result, sets one or several bits,whereas these bits are inserted within the collective acknowledgementmessage addressed to the control network device.

The system advantageously makes bulk acknowledgement and/or datacollection accessible in wireless mesh networks, and is implementable asa directly addressable virtual peripheral in wireless networks so thatsuch a peripheral is served based on interpretation of messages sent toslave communication devices in the wireless network.

The system advantageously provides bulk data and response aggregationfrom network communication devices as a directly addressable service inwireless networks (as described in Czech Patent document CZ2008-288).The system advantageously improves known peripheral and servicefunctions accessible in a wireless network using a directly addressableservice. In response to reception of an initiation message frame,addressed slave network communication devices are time-synchronisedrelative to the beginning of the frame. Slave network communicationdevices interpret such an initiation message as a command for a virtualperipheral (service) providing additional information, and performs arequired sequence of instructions and, independently of it or based onits result, sets one or several bits. These bits are inserted by adevice into a collective acknowledgement message addressed to thecontrol network communication device. The system comprises a virtualperipheral for providing network services and may be used, e.g. for datacollection or network management and substantially enhances networkingcapability and enables creation of a generic platform with the devices.

In an embodiment, a slave communication device includes a memory and aprocessor for operation within a wireless mesh network of communicationdevices including a control communication device. The memory stores avirtual routing identifier assigned to the slave communication device inresponse to increasing range from the control communication device. Theprocessor, in response to receiving an initiation message from a controlcommunication device, initiates data collection from the slavecommunication device synchronised relative to the start of theinitiation message frame by, cumulatively setting bits in a firstacknowledgement message in response to content of a secondacknowledgement message received from another slave communicationdevice. The first acknowledgement message being synchronized with startof the initiation message frame and the processor initiatescommunication of the first acknowledgement message to a destination in atime slot selected in response to the assigned virtual routingidentifier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a system of routing and gradual sending of acollective message.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment where the system is implemented into a TR-52Dtransceiver module and structural arrangement.

FIG. 3 shows an acknowledgement frame Table indicating gradual status ofdata collection and merging of data in nodes N1-N5 using time slots 0-4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Definitions.

Initiation message comprises a prompt message sent by a controlcommunication device to a network. The initiation message is sent in theform of a broadcast (i.e. message addressing substantially all devicesin the network) or as a group message (i.e. message addressing a groupof devices in the network). By sending the initiation message, thecontrol communication device initiates data collection from the slavedevices as described below.

Collective message comprises an acknowledgement message sent by a slavecommunication device to a network in response to receiving theinitiation message. The collective message sent by individual devices ina dedicated time slot contains data from the device and data collectedsince the beginning of the acknowledgement frame from other devices.

Collection comprises structured data accumulation by merging.

A frame in communication systems utilising TDMA comprises a periodicallyrepeating block of data consisting of a fixed number of dedicated timeslots, one for each communication device operating in a network. Duringa frame, the individual devices in wireless networks periodicallyforward a packet containing data in dedicated time slots.

An initiation message frame comprises a periodically forwarded packetcontaining an initiation message.

An acknowledgement frame comprises periodically forwarded packetscontaining a collective message. Forwarding comprises reception andsubsequent sending.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a system of routing and gradual sending of acollective message. The system provides bulk responses from slavenetwork communication devices N and bulk collection of data with packettransmission in wireless mesh networks, based on deployment of a createdvirtual routing structure. The individual slave communication devices ofthe network—communication devices N (with addresses N1 to N5)—have aunique virtual routing number VRN assigned by the control communicationdevice C, which represents their distance from the control communicationdevice C in the network based on the number of routings. The network isarranged in this way for transmission of control packets from thecontrol device of the network (controlling communication devices C) toaddressed slave communication devices N and back using directionalflooding. Each discovered slave communication device N (with addressesN1 to N5) is assigned a unique virtual routing number VRN, specificallyR1 to R5. After reception of the initiation message, time-synchronisedrelative to the beginning of the frame, individual addressed slavenetwork communication devices N first perform a required sequence ofinstructions in response to interpretation of the additional informationinserted into the initiation message by the control communication deviceC. The individual addressed slave network communication devices Nindependently, or based on the interpretation result, set one or severalbits. These bits are inserted into the collective acknowledgementmessage addressed to the control communication (network) device C.

The system processing of bulk response messages from network slavecommunication devices N is based on deploying of an already createdvirtual routing structure in combination with a TDMA method (multipleaccess with time division), together ensuring efficient flooding of thenetwork. The time slot when each network slave communication device N isactive, i.e. when it may perform routing and confirm receipt of messagepackets, is related to the VRN assigned to that slave communicationdevice N. The system arranges the virtual routing structure according tounique virtual routing numbers VRN assigned by the control communicationdevice C during searching through the network based on slave devicedistance from the control communication device C. This VRN arrangementenables progressive delivery of the initiation message sent by thecontrol communication device C to all or a group of addressed slavecommunication devices N using routing employing directional floodingfrom the control communication device C. Further, the VRN arrangementsupports wireless mesh network sending acknowledgement collectivemessages by the network slave communication devices N from the highestvirtual routing number VRN towards the network control communicationdevice C. The system merges an acknowledgement message with previouslyreceived collective messages gradually accumulating data inserted by theindividual slave communication devices N, and ensuring delivery ofinserted data to the control communication device C.

The system is advantageously deployed either for processing bulkresponses from the individual slave communication devices N, or for bulkdata collection from these devices. Each network slave communicationdevice N addressed by the initiation message, forwards the receivedinitiation message in its respective time slot of a frame, andsubsequently, based on additional information in the initiation message,progressively receives the acknowledgement messages sent by the networkslave communication devices N with higher virtual routing number VRN.Each network slave communication device N merges and storesacknowledgement messages for further sending in the respective timeframe of the acknowledgement frame.

In one embodiment, the system of bulk data and response collection fromnetwork slave communication devices N comprises a directly addressableservice in a wireless network for bulk synchronised reception ofresponses and data collection from network devices. In response toreception of the initiation message, time-synchronised relative to thebeginning of the frame, individual addressed slave network communicationdevices N interpret the initiation message as a command for a virtualperipheral (service) providing additional information. An individualaddressed slave network communication device performs the requiredsequence of instructions and independently or based on result of theperformance, sets one or several bits. The set bits are inserted by thedevice into the collective acknowledgement message addressed to thecontrol network communication device C. The system thereby provides avirtual peripheral for network services and may be used, e.g. for datacollection or for network management, thus substantially enhancingfunction and creating a generic platform with the individual addressedslave network communication devices.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show exemplary operation of data collection of a singlebyte indicating a device number. Specifically, FIGS. 1A and 1Billustrate a method of routing (VRN numbers marked as R1, R2, R3, R4 andR5). The Table of FIG. 3 records the progressive status of datacollection from individual network slave communication devices N anddata merging. The system advantageously maintains backward compatibilityof interpretation of sent messages and supports older versions of IQRFOS (Intelligent Connectivity using Radio Frequency Operating System). Inan embodiment the system is implemented in a TR-52D transceiver module,having circuit and layout as illustrated in simplified form in FIG. 2.

General structure of a message sent by an individual addressed slavenetwork communication device:

Individual parts of the message contain information about the message,its destination and also the data itself. The PIN (Packet INfo) partcontains control information about the packet, DLEN (Data LENgth)contains information about the length of the data stored in the DATApart, CRCH/CRCD/CRCS are used to check the consistency of the messageand its parts.

Structure of NTW INFO for network packets:

In order to maintain backward compatibility with lower versions of theIQRF OS operating system, the structure of the message is kept. Therespective extension has been inserted into the part of the message usedfor routing, while the device with number 0xFF (RX=0xFF) is specified asa recipient, which denotes a bulk message addressed to substantially alldevices in the network in current and previous versions of the IQRF OSoperating system. For this purpose, bit ACKF in the control byte PIN isset, which means that acknowledgement of individual devices is required.Bytes MPRW0, MPRW1, MPRW2 are used for direct addressing of peripheralsand services in wireless networks, and are used for further additionaland control data, e.g. for timing of an acknowledgement message. Thehighest data bit from individual network slave communication devices Nis reserved for validation of data of the network device, and it is usedfor subsequent merging of repeatedly received data as apparent fromTable 1 (FIG. 3) using a logical function OR.

FIG. 2 shows a processor with internal memory used by a slavecommunication device for operation within a wireless mesh network ofcommunication devices including a control communication device. Thememory stores a virtual routing identifier assigned to the slavecommunication device in response to increasing range from the controlcommunication device. The processor, in response to receiving aninitiation message from a control communication device, initiates datacollection from the slave communication device synchronised relative tothe start of the initiation message frame by, cumulatively setting bitsin a first acknowledgement message in response to content of a secondacknowledgement message received from another slave communicationdevice. The first acknowledgement message being synchronized with startof the initiation message frame and the processor initiatescommunication of the first acknowledgement message to a destination in atime slot selected in response to the assigned virtual routingidentifier.

The processor accumulates data from multiple slave communication devicesin time slots of acknowledgement messages and cumulatively sets bits inthe first acknowledgement message in response to data derived fromoperation of the slave communication device as well as accumulated datafrom the multiple slave communication devices. Further, in oneembodiment, the initiation message initiates data collection, from themultiple slave communication devices in return messages, by the controlcommunication device using directional flooding. The processoriteratively accumulates data from a plurality of slave communicationdevices in time slots of multiple acknowledgement messages andcumulatively sets bits in the first acknowledgement message in responseto the accumulated data.

The processor executes a sequence of instructions determined in responseto data content of the initiation message from the control communicationdevice. The processor also determines timing of communicating the firstacknowledgement message in response to data content of the initiationmessage from the control communication device. Also, the processoradaptively changes data collected and communicated by the slavecommunication device in response to at least one of, (a) the initiationmessage from the control communication device and (b) a message receivedfrom another slave communication device.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a system of routing and gradual sending of acollective message. FIG. 3 shows an acknowledgement frame Tableindicating gradual status of data collection and merging of data innodes N1-N5 using time slots 0-4. FIG. 1B in conjunction with the Tableof FIG. 3 shows sending and collection of message data from node N3 toN2 to N4 to N5 to N1 illustrating accumulation of data 00300 node N3,02300 node N2, 02340 node N4, 02345 to 12340 node N1 data. FIG. 1A showsa similar operation and is not described to avoid repetition. Anindividual node (N1-N5) can forward its own data and data it has alreadyreceived during previous time slots. The FIG. 3 Table shows, forexample, data collected by node N1 between time slots 0-3 data is fromN1 to N4, and it can forward this data (already received in previoustime slots). This conforms with routing shown in FIG. 1B, based on thetopology and routing numbers. An individual row of the FIG. 3 Tableshows what is happing at each time slot on each node N.

In an embodiment, a TR-52D transceiver module implements the system withminimal hardware requirements using less than 1 kbytes of program memoryof a PIC16F1938 microcontroller. The system improves communication inwireless networks, ensures more efficient management of wirelessnetworks and accelerates data collection in telemetric networks, largesensor networks or systems of automated data reading.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a wireless mesh network of communicationdevices using packet message transmission including a plurality of slavecommunication devices and at least one control communication device, aslave communication device comprising: a memory storing a virtualrouting identifier assigned to said slave communication device inresponse to increasing range from a control communication device, saidvirtual routing identifier reflecting a distance of the slavecommunication device from said control communication device expressed bya number of routings; and a processor configured to, in response toreceiving an initiation message from said control communication device,initiate data collection from said slave communication devicesynchronised relative to the start of the initiation message frame by,cumulatively setting bits in a first acknowledgement message in responseto content of a second acknowledgement message received from anotherslave communication device of said plurality of slave communicationdevices, said first acknowledgement message being synchronized withstart of said initiation message frame and initiating communication ofsaid first acknowledgement message to a destination in a time slotselected in response to the assigned virtual routing identifier.
 2. Theslave communication device according to claim 1, wherein said processoraccumulates data from a plurality of slave communication devices in timeslots of acknowledgement messages and cumulatively sets bits in saidfirst acknowledgement message in response to the accumulated data. 3.The slave communication device according to claim 2, wherein saidprocessor cumulatively sets bits in said first acknowledgement messagein response to data derived from operation of said slave communicationdevice as well as accumulated data from said plurality of slavecommunication devices.
 4. The slave communication device according toclaim 1, wherein said initiation message initiates data collection fromsaid plurality of slave communication devices.
 5. The slavecommunication device according to claim 1, wherein said initiationmessage initiates data collection, from said plurality of slavecommunication devices in return messages, by said control communicationdevice using directional flooding.
 6. The slave communication deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein said processor iteratively accumulatesdata from a plurality of slave communication devices in time slots of aplurality of acknowledgement messages and cumulatively sets bits in saidfirst acknowledgement message in response to the accumulated data. 7.The slave communication device according to claim 1, wherein saidprocessor executes a sequence of instructions determined in response todata content of said initiation message from the control communicationdevice.
 8. The slave communication device according to claim 1, whereinsaid processor determines timing of communicating said firstacknowledgement message in response to data content of said initiationmessage from the control communication device.
 9. The slavecommunication device according to claim 1, wherein said processoradaptively changes data collected and communicated by said slavecommunication device in response to at least one of, (a) said initiationmessage from the control communication device and (b) a message receivedfrom another slave communication device.
 10. A method employed by aslave communication device in a wireless mesh network of communicationdevices using packet message transmission including a plurality of slavecommunication devices and at least one control communication device,comprising the activities of: storing in a memory, a virtual routingidentifier assigned to said slave communication device in response toincreasing range from a control communication device, said virtualrouting identifier reflecting a distance of the slave communicationdevice from said control communication device expressed by a number ofroutings; and in response to receiving an initiation message from saidcontrol communication device, initiating data collection from said slavecommunication device synchronised relative to the start of theinitiation message frame by, cumulatively setting bits in a firstacknowledgement message in response to content of a secondacknowledgement message received from another slave communication deviceof said plurality of slave communication devices, said firstacknowledgement message being synchronized with start of said initiationmessage frame and initiating communication of said first acknowledgementmessage to a destination in a time slot selected in response to theassigned virtual routing identifier.
 11. The method according to claim10, including accumulating data from a plurality of slave communicationdevices in time slots of acknowledgement messages and cumulativelysetting bits in said first acknowledgement message in response to theaccumulated data.
 12. The method according to claim 11, includingcumulatively setting bits in said first acknowledgement message inresponse to, data derived from operation of said slave communicationdevice as well as accumulated data from said plurality of slavecommunication devices.
 13. The method according to claim 10, whereinsaid processor iteratively accumulates data from a plurality of slavecommunication devices in time slots of a plurality of acknowledgementmessages and cumulatively sets bits in said first acknowledgementmessage in response to the accumulated data.
 14. The method according toclaim 10, including executing a sequence of instructions determined inresponse to data content of said initiation message from the controlcommunication device.
 15. The method according to claim 10, whereindetermining timing of communicating said first acknowledgement messagein response to data content of said initiation message from the controlcommunication device.
 16. The method according to claim 10, includingadaptively changing data collected and communicated by said slavecommunication device in response to at least one of, (a) said initiationmessage from the control communication device and (b) a message receivedfrom another slave communication device.
 17. Method of messageacknowledgement and/or data collection from communication devices withpacket transmission of messages in wireless mesh networks, intendedparticularly for telemetry and automation, where each mesh networkincludes at least one control communication device (C) and a set ofslave communication devices (N), and the control communication device(C) searches through the mesh network so that a unique virtual routingnumber (VRN) for that network, expressing the distance of the slavecommunication device (N) from the control communication device (C)determined by the number of routings, is assigned to found slavecommunication devices (N) and stored into its memory, and in the networkarranged in this way, control messages are transmitted from the controlcommunication device (C) and back through directional flooding,comprising in addressed slave communication devices (N) after receptionof the initiation message from the control communication device (C),through which the control communication device (C) initiates datacollection from slave communication devices (N) that aretime-synchronised relative to the beginning of the initiation frame, abit or a number of bits are set, which then gradually merge withacknowledgement collective messages received from other addressed slavecommunication devices (N) during the acknowledgement frame that istime-synchronised to the initiation frame, whereas consequently suchmerged acknowledgement collective messages are gradually sent by theslave communication devices (N) in the corresponding time slot of thatacknowledgement frame from the highest virtual routing number (VRN)towards the control communication device (C).
 18. Method according toclaim 17, wherein the initiation message from the control communicationdevice (C), routed to slave communication devices (N), may haveadditional information inserted and in addressed slave communicationdevices (N) this information is interpreted and the required sequence ofinstructions is performed based on this interpretation and independentlyfrom it or based on its result, one or several bits are set, which arethen inserted into the collective acknowledgement message addressed tothe control communication device (C).
 19. Method according to claim 17,wherein the timing of the acknowledgement frame is performed dependingon the additional information inserted into the initiation message fromthe control communication device (C).
 20. Method of making bulkacknowledgement and/or data collection accessible according to claim 17for creation of a generic platform, wherein it is implemented as adirectly addressable virtual peripheral in wireless networks so thatsuch peripheral is served based on interpretation of messages sent bycommunication devices (N) or (C) in the wireless network.